Monday, 4 June 2018

She was 17 years-old when she placed 700 grams of trotyl below the pillow of police chief General Cardozo on June 18, 1976. Ana Maria had befriended the general's daughter in school and visited the Cardozo home often.

On that June 18, Ana Maria sat in the family living room chatting with her friend then excused herself and went to the toilet. She slipped into the general's bedroom, placed the bomb and joined her friend for a while.

When General Cardozo leaned his head on the pillow that night, he was killed instantly. His wife was seriously injured.

Ana Maria Gonzalez - from Sudestada magazine.

Ana Maria got away with the murder and went on to become the Montonero poster child in the struggle for democracy. That didn't last long. Shortly after the Cardozo killing, Ana Maria was detained at a checkpoint; there was a shootout and she was fatally wounded. Montoneros burned her body in a field.

Many of the female terrorists in Argentina did not radicalize for love. Their crimes were fuelled by resentment, and by rage at the fascists who ruled and the oligarchs who supported them.

About Me

Born in Argentina, I grew up in a cattle ranch; endured a private education and began college. It was the turbulent seventies; our political system collapsed; terrorism unleashed brutal military action, and I lost sight of my future. Like a lobster crawling out of the boiling pot looking for cooler climes, I emigrated to Toronto in 1974. I apprenticed in publishing, and eventually launched my own communications business. In 1991, flush with money and needing to thaw out, I sailed around the world -- from Panamá to Florida, via the South Pacific. Four years at sea and one thousand six hundred sunrises showed me a planet worth knowing, worth defending, and an extraordinary mosaic of cultures taught me much about myself. In 1995 I settled in Florida and delivered yachts to the Caribbean and Europe. Between waves and storms and flying fish I wrote articles and short stories. In 2006 I returned to Argentina where I collided with a story that needs to be told. "OUTRAGE" is the result.